1878 Emerging Infectious Diseases • www.cdc.gov/eid • Vol. 10, No. 10, October 2004 from randomized controlled trials are lacking. All of our patients had been previously healthy, with no coexisting conditions identified as poor prognostic risk factors (2,10). These three cases, together with the case of Wong et al. (1), suggested that at least a subset of SARS adult patients can have a relativ...

PARAMEDICS AND ED PERSONNEL FACE similar risks for blood exposures. They are both confronted by the unpredictability of the patient’s condition, and must perform a daunting variety of tasks under intense pressure. I experienced those risks firsthand as a paramedic in rural West Virginia for four years. My interest in becoming a paramedic started as a concern for my youngest daughter, who seemed...

Officials from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended that hospitals and other healthcare employers adopt measures, including the use of needleless and safe-needle devices, to prevent injuries and illnesses from accidental needlesticks in the workplace. “Today’s healthcare workforce faces a multitude of risks,” said NIOSH Director Linda Rosenstock, MD, MPH....

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects an estimated 130-150 million people worldwide, becoming the major cause of chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver transplantation. There are various preventable modes of transmission of HCV infection, including needlestick and sharps injuries. However, HCV infection secondary to needlestick injury by a capillary blood glucose meter ...

Documentation of needlestick injuries was started in the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore in 1993. In 1995 large sharps containers were introduced, accompanied by an intensive education programme. Details of documented injuries from 1993 to 1999 were analysed using the Epi-Info software. A total of 347 injuries occurred, mainly due to improper disposal of needles, re-capping and care...

Administrators, managers, and clinicians need to be up-to-date on all aspects of the new Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act recently passed into law. This article gives the background and foundation needed to implement policies, procedures, and actions that will assure compliance with the law and increased worker safety.

BACKGROUND Little is known about the transmission of variant hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome through needlestick injuries. METHODS To demonstrate how HCV quasi species are transmitted and adapt to the new host in acute resolving infection, we analyzed the nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the hypervariable region 1 (HVR-1) in the E2 domain of HCV in both the source of the virus ("...